Pics: Bodies Exhumed From Mass Graves In Ukraine Town Retaken From Russia

Ukrainian investigators began to exhume a mass grave in Bucha, opening the early stages of what many have alleged will be a war crimes case targeting Russian troops who occupied the Kyiv commuter town.

The grave -- a long deep trench in the mud behind a gold-domed church -- was used by Ukrainians to bury neighbours they claim were killed at the hands of Russian armed forces over a week ago.

Crews wearing white forensic overalls were using a flatbed lorry fixed with a mechanical crane to remove corpses from the ditch. At least dozens of bodies are believed to be at the mass grave said to be 40-feet long.

The investigators are looking into allegations of executions, as widely believed, by Russians during the occupation of the town.

Most of the remains outside the grave, cordoned off by tape, were zipped inside black plastic body bags.

The investigators are looking into allegations of executions, as widely believed, by Russians during the occupation of the town.

The town of Bucha has become the growing focus of allegations of war criminality with pictures of people with their hands tied behind their back and bullet wound to their heads emerging from the town after five weeks of Russian occupation.

Crews wearing white forensic overalls were using a flatbed lorry fixed with a mechanical crane to remove corpses from the ditch.

Russia has said that all photographs and videos published by the Ukrainian authorities alleging 'crimes' by Russian troops in Bucha were a "provocation," and no resident of Bucha suffered violence at the hands of Russian troops.

Bucha was captured in the days immediately after the February 24 invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces who swept south, capturing the defunct nuclear reactor at Chernobyl and moving southwards toward the capital.

At least dozens of bodies are believed to be at the mass grave said to be 40-feet long.

Bucha and the northern outskirts of nearby Irpin were the point at which the Russian advance from the northwest was halted after they met with unexpectedly fierce resistance from Ukrainian forces.

The area witnessed some of the bloodiest fighting of the battle for the capital, until Russian forces pulled back from north of Kyiv.

Most of the remains outside the grave, cordoned off by tape, were zipped inside black plastic body bags.

Earlier this month, Ukraine announced that it retook control of the capital region for the first time since the invasion.

The Kremlin denies that it has invaded Ukraine, saying it is carrying out a "special military operation" to degrade the Ukrainian armed forces and is targeting military installations rather than carrying out strikes on civilian areas.